New bird flu virus killing US baby seals: study

"A new kind of bird flu has been causing deadly pneumonia in baby seals off the northeastern US coast and could pose a risk to humans, according to US research released Tuesday. (AFP Photo/Fred Tanneau)" title

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Watch: Ebola Outbreak: Deadly Virus Spreads in Uganda

NYPD Officer Talks Man Out of Bridge...More Popular Video'About Face' Explores Beauty Over TimeJames Holmes Sent Notebook to PsychiatristWas Robert Pattinson About to Propose to...HBO Examines Modeling In 'About Face'James Holmes' Notebook Reveals Shooting...In The NewsU.S.PoliticsEntertainmentWeird and WackyBreaking NewsColo. Suspect Charged With 24 Counts of MurderEbola Outbreak: Deadly Virus Spreads in UgandaHealth officials confirmed that the virus has killed at least 14 people.00:20

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Only 1 in 4 Americans With HIV Have Virus Under Control: CDC

HealthDay – Fri, Jul 27, 2012 FRIDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Among the 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, just one in four has the virus under control, U.S. health researchers say.

In a report presented Friday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the problem applies to patients of all ages, races and ethnic groups, but especially to young people and blacks.

"This is the first time that we have ever looked at the outcome of continuum of care across all patient groups," said CDC epidemiologist Irene Hall. "And what we found is that, overall, too few people with HIV have viral suppression." People with viral load suppression are healthy and less likely to transmit the virus to others.

"Only if we get everyone under regular care for HIV/AIDS can we recognize the full benefits of treatment and prevention," said Hall, chief of the HIV incidence and case surveillance branch in the CDC division of HIV/AIDS prevention.

For the report, Hall and her colleagues pored through 2009 data collected by the CDC, which included rates of HIV testing, patient participation in the health care system, continuity of care for HIV, treatment prescribed, and the patient's viral load status in terms of suppression.

Overall, about 82 percent of all those infected with HIV know their status, meaning that more than 200,000 Americans now infected with HIV are not aware of their condition.

Two-thirds of the nation's HIV patients do have some relationship with a care provider, the report indicates, and more than one-third (37 percent) receive continuous HIV care, while one-third are treated with antiretroviral therapy.

But just over one-third of black patients were found to have ongoing care, compared with 37 percent to 38 percent of Latinos and whites. Similarly, just a little over one in five black patients was found to have viral load suppression, compared with 26 percent of Latinos and 30 percent of whites.

Blacks infected with HIV were the least likely to find out they were infected in the first place and the least likely to get any care for HIV, Hall added.

Younger HIV patients were also much less likely than older patients to know their HIV status and to obtain routine care, Hall said.

Suppression rates were also poorer among younger patients, with just 15 percent of those aged 25 to 34 having their virus under control compared with 36 percent among those aged 55 to 64.

No significant differences were seen between males and females in terms of diagnosis, treatment or disease control.

For now, the report authors can only theorize about what lies behind these differences in HIV care.

"Our study did not look at the reasons for why people are not in care, or are not prescribed

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Only 1 in 4 Americans With HIV Has Virus Under Control: CDC

HealthDay – Sat, Jul 28, 2012 FRIDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Among the 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, just one in four has the virus under control, U.S. health researchers say.

In a report presented Friday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the problem applies to patients of all ages, races and ethnic groups, but especially to young people and blacks.

"This is the first time that we have ever looked at the outcome of continuum of care across all patient groups," said CDC epidemiologist Irene Hall. "And what we found is that, overall, too few people with HIV have viral suppression." People with viral load suppression are healthy and less likely to transmit the virus to others.

"Only if we get everyone under regular care for HIV/AIDS can we recognize the full benefits of treatment and prevention," said Hall, chief of the HIV incidence and case surveillance branch in the CDC division of HIV/AIDS prevention.

For the report, Hall and her colleagues pored through 2009 data collected by the CDC, which included rates of HIV testing, patient participation in the health care system, continuity of care for HIV, treatment prescribed, and the patient's viral load status in terms of suppression.

Overall, about 82 percent of all those infected with HIV know their status, meaning that more than 200,000 Americans now infected with HIV are not aware of their condition.

Two-thirds of the nation's HIV patients do have some relationship with a care provider, the report indicates, and more than one-third (37 percent) receive continuous HIV care, while one-third are treated with antiretroviral therapy.

But just over one-third of black patients were found to have ongoing care, compared with 37 percent to 38 percent of Latinos and whites. Similarly, just a little over one in five black patients was found to have viral load suppression, compared with 26 percent of Latinos and 30 percent of whites.

Blacks infected with HIV were the least likely to find out they were infected in the first place and the least likely to get any care for HIV, Hall added.

Younger HIV patients were also much less likely than older patients to know their HIV status and to obtain routine care, Hall said.

Suppression rates were also poorer among younger patients, with just 15 percent of those aged 25 to 34 having their virus under control compared with 36 percent among those aged 55 to 64.

No significant differences were seen between males and females in terms of diagnosis, treatment or disease control.

For now, the report authors can only theorize about what lies behind these differences in HIV care.

"Our study did not look at the reasons for why people are not in care, or are not prescribed

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World's first dengue vaccine beats three virus strains

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UN, OIE call for more controls on rinderpest virus

"A scientist holds blood samples in a laboratory at the Center for Scientific Research Caucaseco on the outskirts of Cali, Colombia, on April 25, 2012. The UN's food agency and the OIE called on countries on Monday to comply with a 2011 global moratorium and destroy potentially dangerous rinderpest virus samples or put them into safe storage. (AFP Photo/Luis Robayo)" title

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Hepatitis C Virus Levels Higher in Certain Injection Drug Users

HealthDay – Fri, Jul 13, 2012 FRIDAY, July 13 (HealthDay News) -- Among injection-drug users in the United States infected with hepatitis C, virus levels are highest among blacks, males and those who are also infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a new study finds.

A 2010 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 3.9 million Americans have chronic hepatitis C infection, which is a leading cause of liver cancer, end-stage liver disease and liver transplantation.

The study was published in the July issue of the journal Hepatology.

Previous research indicates that one-third of injection-drug users aged 18 to 30 -- and up to 90 percent of older users -- are infected with the hepatitis C virus. With such high rates, it's important to learn more about the characteristics of infection in this group of people, Dr. Thomas O'Brien, of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said in a journal news release.

O'Brien also noted that hepatitis C virus levels predict treatment response in people with chronic hepatitis C.

O'Brien and colleagues looked at approximately 1,700 black, Hispanic and white injection-drug users in San Francisco. Nearly 75 percent of the participants were men. Their average age was 46 and the average age at which they first used injection drugs was 18.

"We know that the level of

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Taiwan finds H5N1 virus in birds smuggled from China

"File picture of a man (right) giving his pet budgerigars a shower to cool off from the summer heat in Beijing on July 2010. Dozens of pet birds smuggled from southern China into Taiwan tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus and were destroyed, Taiwanese authorities said Tuesday. (AFP Photo/)" title

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New optimism about stemming spread of AIDS virus

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New optimism about stemming spread of AIDS virus

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